1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, apparatus, and computer program product for distributing Dynamic Content Alerts (DCA) to end users that are consuming IP enabled content. Dynamic Content Alerts includes, but is not limited to, weather conditions, forecast, NWS Alerts, Amber Alerts, DHS Alerts, FEMA Alerts, Traffic Incidents, Traffic Conditions, Traffic Forecast, Sports Scores, Stock Information, News, etc. The DCA will be from 1 second to 15 minutes to get to the end user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumer behavior has changed extensively over the last 30+ years, as shown by the graph in FIG. 1. The graph in FIG. 1 shows information consumption patterns, by medium, as a percent of market share, for the period 1970-2005. In the 1970's, consumers obtained information from television, radio, and telephone. Furthermore, information consumption patters for these media have remained constant over the last 35 years, as shown in FIG. 1. However, technology has been rapidly expanding over the last 35 years, and new media have been consistently emerging. These new media include cable (1980's), cell phone (1990's), internet (1990's), and broadband (2005).
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) historically was used to relay information to consumers via radio and television. In 1994, EBS was replaced by the Emergency Alert System (EAS). EAS is the test script occasionally heard on broadcast stations or local cable systems.
Since Jan. 1, 1997, all AM, FM and TV broadcast stations have been using the EAS. Also, since Dec. 31, 1998, cable systems that have 10,000 or more subscribers are part of the EAS.
The EAS uses digital technology to distribute messages. This allows for many improvements in providing emergency information to the public. The EAS system provides state and local officials with a method to quickly send out important local emergency information targeted to a specific area. The information can be sent out through a broadcast station and cable system even if those facilities are unattended. Also, the EAS digital signal is the same signal that the National Weather Service (NWS) uses on NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). This allows NWR signals to be decoded by the EAS equipment at broadcast stations and cable systems. Broadcasters and cable operators can then retransmit NWS weather warning messages almost immediately to their audiences.
However, with the diversity in information consumption patterns that exists today, EAS is no longer an effective program.
Internet advertising, when compared to convention television and radio advertising, brings with it its own distinct advantages and set of rules for success. The Internet, as an advertising medium, scores over the conventional media on two counts:                In its ability to provide for interactive communication where the advertiser can establish, a two-way communication with the consumer.        In its ability to target communication to a specific target segment.        
FIG. 13 shows an example of a background scheme of combining content with advertisements. In the example of FIG. 13, content provider A 1806: makes available two types of content over the Internet 1804. In particular, content provider A 1806 makes available content A programmed for advertisements X 1814 and content A2 programmed for advertisements Y 1816. Similarly, content provider B 1808 makes available content B programmed for advertisements X 1818 and content B programmed for advertisements Y 1820. Further in the example of FIG. 13, advertising aggregator 1810 provides plural types of advertising, for example advertisements X1 1822 and advertisements X2 1824. In addition, advertising aggregator Y 1812 provides advertisements Y1 1826 and advertisements Y2 1828.
Further, in this example, content is displayed on, or presented from a user interface 1802, after it is retrieved over the Internet 1804. For example, if a user requests content A from content provider A, content A programmed for advertisements X 1814 may be sent to a user interface available to the user. In addition, the content A is programmed to cause the user interface to also retrieve advertisements X from advertising aggregator X 1810. Thus, the user interface 1802 may also request advertisement A from advertising aggregator X. Upon receipt of a request for advertisements X, advertising aggregator X 1810 makes a decision to provide at least one of advertisements X1 1822 and advertisements X2 1824 to the user making that request. Thus, in the present example, content on user interface 1802 is displayed as content A plus the advertisement selected by advertisement aggregator X. Alternatively, upon receipt of request for content A by content provider A 1806, content provider A 1806 may choose to send content A programmed for advertisements Y 1816 and subsequently advertising aggregator Y 1812, upon receiving a request for advertisements from the user interface of the user may choose to send advertisements Y1 1820 or advertisements Y2 1828. Thus, in this background example, the user interface 1802 displays or presents a combination of the content requested by the user plus an advertisement selected by the content provider and/or an advertising aggregator.
Thus, in the background scheme of FIG. 13, the selection or advertisements to be displayed with content is made by parties other than the user and therefore the advertising is less effective and the user experience is diminished.
Other background schemes have attempted to address this problem by making an advertisement selection based on general selection information collected about or from the user.
These background schemes discussed above cannot provide dynamic real-time information to consumers. The system shown in FIG. 13 has pre-formatted advertisements Y1, Y2, X1, and X2. There is no mechanism in place to combine dynamic real-time information (i.e., an alert for a tornado warning) with an advertisement, so as to provide the dynamic real-time information to a large audience in a relevant area.
Furthermore, other conventional schemes have communicated information, such as school closures, via email to registered users. However, such a system may provide information to a small audience, and the information provided is not real-time information. Further, such systems require that users check their email to receive the information. The present inventors recognize that emailing emergency alert notices would not be as effective as providing real-time alerts.